AN INVESTIGATION OF ACHIEVEMENT GRADING BASED ON SCHOLASTIC ABILITY DISTRIBUTION.

MASON, GEOFFREY

IN A STUDY OF GRADING METHODS PRACTICED BY TEACHERS OF 103 SIXTH GRADE CLASSES, IT WAS FOUND THAT USE OF THE I.Q. SYSTEM AS A BASIS FOR ACHIEVEMENT GRADING PRODUCES APPROXIMATELY THE SAME RESULTS AS PERMITTING TEACHERS TO USE THEIR OWN JUDGMENT IN ASSIGNING ACHIEVEMENT GRADES. TWO HYPOTHESES WERE TESTED--(1) THE AVERAGE I.Q. LETTER GRADE OF A CLASS PROVIDES AN APPROPRIATE MIDPOINT FOR ACHIEVEMENT GRADING, AND (2) THE I.Q. LETTER GRADING SYSTEM PROVIDES SUITABLE HELP TO TEACHERS IN DETERMINING ACHIEVEMENT LETTER GRADES. COMPARISONS OF TEST LETTER GRADES WITH THE I.Q. MEANS FOR EACH OF THE CLASSES STUDIED REVEALED A CLOSER AGREEMENT BETWEEN I.Q. MEAN AND READING ACHIEVEMENT MEAN THAN BETWEEN I.Q. MEAN AND LANGUAGE, ARITHMETIC, AND SCIENCE ACHIEVEMENT MEANS. USE OF THE I.Q. LETTER GRADING SYSTEM TO DETERMINE THE DISTRIBUTION OF ACHIEVEMENT GRADES COULD NOT BE JUSTIFIED FOR ONE-THIRD OF THE CLASSES. NO SIGNIFICANT DIFFERENCES WERE FOUND IN A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE TWO GRADING METHODS STUDIED--(1) RELIANCE LARGELY UPON THE TEACHER'S JUDGMENT, AND (2) USE OF I.Q. DISTRIBUTION AS A BASIS FOR ACHIEVEMENT GRADING. (JK)